Slow start ancient history for Perkins

Perkins began what looked like a promising football season by losing three of its first four games. That scuffling start seems like a long time ago, now that the weather has turned chilly and the playoffs are in their third week. The Pirates, as expected, are making noise in the postseason. Winners of eight straight games, they head south to Galion on Friday for a Division IV Region 14 semifinal. Instead of falling apart in September, the Pirates have become a force in November. "We heard some of that outside noise, so we kind of used it as fuel," Perkins senior receiver Blake Parker said. "It helped us come together as a team. Our practices took it up a notch because we realized we do not wanna not make the playoffs. We want to be a team to be remembered." Perkins responded to the pressure and finished the regular season as the No. 6 seed in the region. "Outside looking in, people see a million different things, but ultimately we knew what we could be," Perkins coach Jalen Santoro said. "We were young at that point in the year, not playing our best football, dinged up, people out. We knew once it all came together this is what we could look like. "You can say that, but when you're sitting at 1-3, there's that fear like if you lose another game or two your season could look really different. I think that motivated a lot of kids and motivated our locker room." Perkins (9-3) faces another road test against second-seeded Galion, a confident 10-1 team that gave top-ranked Shelby a scare in the regular season. The Tigers, who are in the regional semifinals for the first time since 1985 — when they won a state championship — have scored 34 or more points in eight of 11 games. "Everybody you're playing at this point is a good football team," Santoro said. "Not the biggest team overall, but they're fast and play really hard. They've been consistently good for the last couple years. "You watch them on film and you can tell they're playing hard from the first play of the game to the end of the game." Galion is making its seventh straight playoff appearance and is 3-6 in the postseason since 2019. The Tigers were eliminated by Bellevue in 2020 and 2022 and by Clyde in 2021. The Tigers are coming off a 41-13 win over Cloverleaf on its home grass at Unckrich Stadium. Their only loss was a 45-34 setback at Shelby on Sept. 12. Galion had that game tied 28-28 after three quarters, but couldn't cash in. The winner of Friday's game in Galion will face the winner of Shelby-Lima Bath in a regional final. "Our team's small, but we're really fast," Galion coach Matt Dick said. "We have a lot of grit, a lot of East Side kids." Galion's offense starts with speedy senior quarterback Ayden Schmidt, who has thrown 20 touchdown passes and has six scores on the ground. He had a 63-yard touchdown run last week. "He gives our kids a chance to make plays," Dick said. "Without Ayden Schmidt, we'd be in trouble." Like Perkins, Galion has depth at running back. Braxton Stuckman ran for 79 yards and three touchdowns last week. Camden Kuehlman leads the Tigers with 447 rushing yards. "It's fun to call an offense when you have three awesome options," Dick said. "We've been lucky as of late. We're really getting healthy at running back." Galion's leading wide receiver, Jacob Chambers, is out for the season with an injury. Galion's defense posted 12 tackles for loss against Cloverleaf and has a whopping 41.5 quarterback sacks this season. Zach Sallee, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound defensive end, leads the way with 13.5 sacks. "He's one of the best I've ever coached," Dick said. "He's a great kid; I saw him at 5 a.m. lifts when he was in the seventh grade. He has a chance to become by third All-Ohio first team pick." Kale Early has eight sacks and athletic defensive end Dominic Capretta has 7.5. Kuehlmann leads Galion with 145 tackles. Galion finished its regular season with a 20-7 win against Clear Fork — the team that beat Perkins 17-14 in Week 1. Perkins has routed all of its opponents in its eight-game winning streak, including a 31-0 shutout of third-seeded Napoleon last week. "The thing that jumps off the film is they're huge and fast," Dick said. "They have big kids who will be hard to deal with and their linebackers are a super-athletic group." Perkins senior quarterback Sam Schweinfurth has thrown 27 touchdown passes and just one interception this season. Running backs Braxden Martin, Levi Jackson and JoJo Moore have combined for 1,480 yards and 23 touchdowns. Parker has 75 receptions for 1,332 and 11 touchdowns. Linebackers Landon Flores (128 tackles) and Martin (112) are part of an active defense that closes quickly on ballcarriers. "No matter who we're playing, if we play our game and play well, we're kind of tough to beat," Santoro said. REGIONAL SEMIFINALS All games at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14 DIVISION IRegion 1No. 4 Toledo Whitmer (9-2) at No. 1 Lakewood St. Edward (9-2)No. 3 Canton McKinley (9-2) at No. 2 Mentor (11-0)Region 2No. 5 Springfield (8-4) at No. 1 Middletown (9-2)No. 6 Huber Heights Wayne (8-4) at No. 2 Troy (9-2)Region 3No. 5 Powell Olentangy Liberty (8-4) at No. 1 Lewis Center Olentangy Orange (11-0)No. 6 Upper Arlington (10-2) at No. 2 Pickerington Central (10-1)Region 4No. 4 Cincinnati Princeton (9-2) at No. 1 Cincinnati Elder (11-0)No. 3 Cincinnati St. Xavier (8-2) at No. 2 Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller (8-3) DIVISION IIRegion 5No. 5 Hudson (10-2) at No. 1 Akron Archbishop Hoban (9-1)No. 3 Austintown Fitch (9-1) at No. 2 Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit (9-1)Region 6No. 4 North Ridgeville (10-1) at No. 1 Medina Highland (11-0)No. 3 Avon (10-1) at No. 2 Wadsworth (11-0)Region 7No. 4 Canal Winchester (10-1) at No. 1 Sunbury Big Walnut (10-1)No. 3 Massillon Washington (8-3) at No. 2 Columbus St. Francis DeSales (9-2)Region 8No. 5 Cincinnati La Salle (9-3) at No. 1 Cincinnati Anderson (11-0)No. 7 Harrison (9-3) at No. 3 Trotwood-Madison (7-3) DIVISION IIIRegion 9No. 4 Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph (9-1) at No. 1 Canfield (10-1)No. 6 Akron East (10-2) at No. 2 Cuyahoga Falls CVCA (10-0)Region 10No. 5 Rocky River (10-2) at No. 1 Medina Buckeye (11-0)No. 6 Toledo Central Catholic (8-4) at No. 2 Wapakoneta (11-0)Region 11No. 4 Dresden Tri-Valley (9-2) at No. 1 Columbus Bishop Watterson (10-0)No. 3 Steubenville (8-2) at No. 2 Newark Licking Valley (11-0)Region 12No. 4 Jackson (9-2) at No. 1 London (11-0)No. 3 Hamilton Badin (10-1) at No. 2 Tipp City Tippecanoe (11-0) DIVISION IVRegion 13No. 4 Beloit West Branch (10-1) at No. 1 Perry (9-2)No. 3 Mentor Lake Catholic (9-2) at No. 2 Clevland Glenville (8-3)Region 14No. 4 Lima Bath (9-2) at No. 1 Shelby (11-0)No. 6 Perkins (9-3) at No. 2 Galion (10-1)Region 15No. 4 Chillicothe Unioto (11-0) at No. 1 New Lexington (10-1)No. 3 Plain City Jonathan Alder (10-1) at No. 2 Gnadenhutten Indian Valley (10-0)Region 16No. 4 Cincinnati Taft (11-0) at No. 1 Cincinnati Indian Hill (11-0)No. 3 Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy (10-1) at No. 2 Germantown Valley View (10-1) DIVISION VRegion 17No. 4 Garrettsville Garfield (9-2) at No. 1 Youngstown Cardinal Mooney (8-2)No. 3 Poland Seminary (9-2) at No. 2 Girard (11-0)Region 18No. 5 Findlay Liberty-Benton (12-0) at No. 1 Liberty Center (11-0)No. 3 Genoa Area (10-1) at No. 2 Wooster Triway (10-1)Region 19No. 4 Barnesville (9-2) at No. 1 Wheelersburg (11-0)No. 3 Nelsonville-York (11-0) at No. 2 Gahanna Columbus Academy (9-2)Region 20No. 8 Richwood North Union (8-4) at No. 5 Carlisle (10-2) No. 11 Cincinnati Mariemont (8-4) at No. 2 Lewistown Indian Lake (9-2) DIVISION VIRegion 21No. 5 Smithville (10-2) at No. 1 Kirtland (11-0)No. 7 Sugarcreek Garaway (9-2) at No. 6 Dalton (9-3)Region 22No. 9 Carey (8-4) at No. 4 Paulding (11-0)No. 3 Archbold (9-2)at No. 2 Bascom Hopewell-Loudon (10-1)Region 23No. 5 North Robinson Colonel Crawford (11-1) at No. 1 Centerburg (10-1)No. 3 West Jefferson (10-1) at No. 2 Beverly Fort Frye (9-1)Region 24No. 5 Coldwater (8-4) at No. 1 New Madison Tri-Village (11-0)No. 6 Anna (9-3) at No. 2 Springfield Northeastern (10-1) DIVISION VIIRegion 25No. 4 Monroeville (9-2) at No. 1 McDonald (11-0)No. 7 East Canton (10-2) at No. 3 Mogadore (10-1)Region 26No. 4 Columbus Grove (8-3) at No. 1 Lima Central Catholic (10-1)No. 7 Pandora-Gilboa (9-3) at No. 3 Leipsic (10-1)Region 27No. 4 Willow Wood Symmes Valley (9-2) at No. 1 Jeromesville Hillsdale (10-1)No. 11 Danville (7-5) at No. 2 Waterford (9-2)Region 28No. 12 Fort Recovery (7-5) at No. 1 Maria Stein Marion Local (11-0)No. 11 Cedarville (7-5) at No. 2 St. Henry (10-1)